Starting to get a real deluge of AI slop games people are trying to advertise on r/roguelikes. Alas, roguelikes may be the cusp of the flood here, since a randomised loop game is fairly low-hanging fruit and anything can be tagged roguelike these days. Other genres, beware! The water's rising.
It's #7DRL week, so lots of interesting roguelikes being developed in the mix!
I once ate 100 Mars bars in 3 days (I was very sick on the third).
K240 was always my favourite. So many unique and fun mechanics. Turning colony asteroids into slow but unstoppable collision weapons was immensely satisfying.
Regardless of thoughts on the Green party, I'm excited to see a shift in the Overton window. Let's stop Reform sucking up all the oxygen and attention.
One game. Millions of possibilities. In this roguelike science fantasy world, creative solutions are the only way you can survive.
➡️ Play Caves of Qud now on #NintendoSwitch: https://ninten.do/6010QrROG
Story and tactics is the ideal, but tactics alone is fine if the game is good enough. Preferably there's still a bit of charm to the world, mind. I'm about done with generic medieval fantasy.
I'll give those a go. Not a particular fan of the Mewgenic artstyle, but perhaps I can get over it.
Still not quite found the right mix of engaging tactics and story with a good UI on phone or Switch. I've bounced between a few old JRPGs but they often have basic tactics and stories that feel stale by today's standards. Currently on Energy Breaker, which actually looks quite promising.
I actually had to delete Civ6 in the end because I was repeatedly playing to 5am without it really feeling satisfying. And it was sooo slow on the Switch.
I got FTL working on my phone using Winlator, and it's surprisingly playable but fairly slow to manage the UI. Still nice to have.
- XCOM2 was fun for the first 10 hours, but then doesn't seem to have much progression of tactics. It's just kill enemies quick so they can't hit back.
- I played a tonne of Civ6 last week. It's addictive without much substance - very autopilot-play with low density of interesting decisions.
- Chrono Trigger I tried since I hear it's a classic. After 30 hours I gave up on its tiresome battles and cartoony tone. I can understand some people being okay with this, but best RPG ever?
- Tactics Ogre: Reborn I did 15 or so hours in. It's like FFT with dull powers and battlefields.
- Divinity: Original Sin 2 about 20 hours. Loot is kinda boring, fights can be interesting but mostly boil down to armour-stripping + debuffs, story is a bit blandly presented. Should maybe try more.
- BG1 I've bounced off in the past, but I tried playing again. I still don't like AD&D rules.
Since completing BG3 last year I've been bouncing between a few tactics-y games trying to find something as satisfying, and not quite getting the same itch scratched.
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses I put 90+ hours in and got bored of its lack of tactical depth. Story/characters pretty shallow too.
And get deprived of the milking videos? No thanks!
Youtube video thumbnail entitled "Which companions in Fallout would let you milk them" with a cartoon picture of an anthropomorphised cow.
During the Fallout London writing process I watched a lot of Youtube videos with details of the Fallout 4 companions - clips, analysis, what people liked/hated, etc. Unfortunately Youtube thinks this means I'm obsessed with F4 companions for eternity, and now shoves me recommendations like this.
Yeah, it's an odd Slay the Spire -> Balatro chain. Who knows what'll come next!
I've seen some board game makers calling their game "roguelike" because it includes meta-progression. The truth is true roguelike mechanics have existed in board games long before roguelikes existed.
It's simple randomisation + restarts. Which are inherent to card games, but now are being labelled "roguelike" by many.
Yes, though Balatro seems to have stretched things even further.
And apparently anything with cards is now a roguelike. Which is interesting, because originally Rogue was based on tabletop D&D. Modern "roguelikes" have a parallel root in board games, capturing some of the same mechanics but with entirely separate inspiration.
I'm now seeing some people saying something is roguelike because everything resets on death, and others say something is roguelike because it has legacy/meta-progression mechanics. "Roguelike" has now become an absurd term.
Trophy award stating, "You get a new trophy: Night Owl. Do you ever sleep?"
I do not need you judging me, Board Game Arena.
Google with AI buttons
Google without AI buttons
I made a filterlist for uBlock Origin to remove Generative AI features on websites. Includes blocks for
* Google AI Summaries
* YouTube Ask button & chat summaries
* GitHub Copilot
* Facebook AI chat
* X's Grok buttons
* Deviantart DreamUp
* Booru AI images
* And more
github.com/Stevoisiak/S...
thanks to @ricklane.bsky.social for talking to me and other modders. sorry not-sorry for the ludicrous headline quote
btw credit to @asponge.bsky.social who coined “concrete murderzones” years ago to describe QBJ1 and it stuck in my head all these years
Call for Speakers! We are looking for passionate speakers to deliver a talk during Everything Procedural 2026. Are you excited to share your experiences with an audience? Then we encourage you to submit your proposal: forms.office.com/e/sG6z0eCAyG
#procgen #procedural #gamedev
Reposting for the day crowd. We discuss critical analysis of games, in what Andrew labels our most white male podcast discussion to date.
It's nice to have some wtf that brings delight instead of despair.
I loved the bit! I think we need more "what the fuck?" rants at the start of episodes.
And yeah, was a really fun and engaging chat.
New Roguelike Radio! @andrewdoull.bsky.social, @robotparking.kvlt.rip and I discuss 'critical play' - the act of engaging in design-oriented analysis whilst playing games, and the special challenges in doing this for roguelikes. www.roguelikeradio.com/2026/01/epis...
